I just bought a 2003 Escalade XS-500. Love the truck runs awesome, sounds mean as hell. There is no belt for the supercharger, and try as i might, have had no luck locating any of these. Really wanted to know if the supercharger was bad, so I rigged up a belt, ( My sisters Pantyhose:bouncy: ) lol. It worked though. The charger was pretty rough sounding at Idle, like the gears were scraping the walls, however it turns pretty freely. and did get a bit quieter at about 2500 rpm. anyway, trying to locate someone, or a shop that can rebuild this, and the elusive belt. Any tips?

the cadillac man

11-12-12, 09:34 PM

Hey all,

I just bought a 2003 Escalade XS-500. Love the truck runs awesome, sounds mean as hell. There is no belt for the supercharger, and try as i might, have had no luck locating any of these. Really wanted to know if the supercharger was bad, so I rigged up a belt, ( My sisters Pantyhose:bouncy: ) lol. It worked though. The charger was pretty rough sounding at Idle, like the gears were scraping the walls, however it turns pretty freely. and did get a bit quieter at about 2500 rpm. anyway, trying to locate someone, or a shop that can rebuild this, and the elusive belt. Any tips?

Sounds like a bearing problem in the supercharger causing the noise I know as I had to replace the belt tensioners on my truck as they was whining due to worn bearings(like to bugged me to death)

6lbsofSound

11-12-12, 10:02 PM

For the belt grab some string and run it the way the belt would be. Bring the string to a good parts store and get the belt size slightly under the string and the next size up from the string.

As for the charger they are self oiled units that don't use an oil feed from the engine. I would run it for a bit with the new belt and see if the oil internally recirculates and lubes the bearings and seals again since it has been disconnected. No need to jump on the rebuild band wagon yet if the unit has not been used in awhile. Plus you were running it with pantyhose so I am sure it had some excess slip, which would make noise and cause it run rough. A supercharger is different from a belt tensioner that's making noise.

Good luck let us know how you make out. Oh and count the ribs on the pulley too, so you know which serpentine belt to get.

Let us know how you make out, good luck.

Jophusp

11-13-12, 10:51 AM

Will def, give that a try first, will head out and try to get the belt today, thanks for the tips, will let you know how I make out.

Jophusp

11-13-12, 04:46 PM

I went in to get a belt, but then began to question myself. I only have two pulleys, one on the crank, and one on the supercharger, is there no tensioner? anyone else with the XS-500, that could take a look and let me know?
Thanks,

the cadillac man

11-13-12, 05:09 PM

I went in to get a belt, but then began to question myself. I only have two pulleys, one on the crank, and one on the supercharger, is there no tensioner? anyone else with the XS-500, that could take a look and let me know?
Thanks,

There is no tensioner with those

6lbsofSound

11-13-12, 05:33 PM

it uses a longer factory belt along with the tensioner. loop the string around again including the charger and you should be good to go. Every aftermarket charger kit either uses the factory factory tensioner and a longer serpentine belt or they change the crank pulley to a accept a dual belt set up with a tensioner. Direct drive superchargers only come from weiand or the blower shop and is not applicable in this case. So yes there is a tensioner but its using the stock one.

Good luck! I want to see some pics when you get this squared away.

Jophusp

03-16-13, 09:59 AM

Ok, so it took a few months, but I have got everything figured out.

First I found someone to rebuild the Powerdyne BD11-A supercharger, with upgraded bearings, and an aftermarket billet impeller, which should improve full range boost. Superchargerrebuilders.com
I found the tensioner I needed at 928Motorsports.com
and the belt at local autozone.

It was not cheap, but I think I did it right, and I am expecting my charger back end of next week, much cheaper, and quicker than going to Powerdyne for the rebuild. Before I put the charger back on though I think I will replace the water pump(coolant seeping through the seep hole). I have had trouble trying to post pictures on here, let alone video, but I will try. If anyone else needs help with this system in the future, I would be glad to help. its actually surprisingly easy to work on, and to replace bearings on your own.

XS500

06-25-14, 04:02 PM

What size belt was it?

xs-500

06-27-14, 04:27 PM

I have 02 Escalade XS-500 and had the same issues, if its running the powerdyne supercharger its quite a hassle to find someone do a repair. I called plenty of performance shops and nobody wanted to touch the supercharger all of them recommended for me to call the manufacturer but they are out of business. Although there is a couple of shops online that will do the repair for you but its a little pricy ( around 300-400 dollars in labor ,not including parts). But i do agree with the fact that you need new bearings, the internal belt is a gates belt that you can find on ebay. Just a word of advice, get the gates belt with ceramic bearings. Don't go for the cheap belt with 80 dollar bearings cause they wont last you too long. It'll
be a bit more expensive, bearings running around 300 dollars for all four but well worth the money. I just ended up buying a new powerdyne supercharger online for almost the same price. So look at what option would be better for you.